Are experiences of the ‘Holy Spirit’ real?

1.    INTRODUCTION

Evaluating the sensation of being anointed or filled with the Holy Spirit AND experiencing the Spirit’s gifts. Is this Holy Spirit stuff real?

If you, the reader, ARE in search of your own ‘serious’ evidence that God is real, then please read this article.

Also bear in mind the likelihood that God really IS ready and willing to offer the evidence, mentioned in that sentence above, to you. Trust me, I know just how that advice may be a ‘bit hard to swallow’. But please read on.

This article relates to events and experiences available within Christianity’s popular worldwide Pentecostal/ Charismatic ‘movement’. The movement supposedly has approximately 650 million members throughout the world. And that’s more than 1/4 of all Christians!

For the ‘who’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ of this website please click here. That article explains, in particular, how the majority of this website is the product of a serious long-term audit of practical Christianity. Although I am retired from work now, professionally I had been a qualified, very experienced, senior auditor. Mind you this website’s advisory team is largely made up from qualified Christian clergy.

Let’s have a good look at the findings from my serious evaluation of all this stuff then …

2.    GOOD OLD CURIOSITY

During my early days of Christian faith, I had certainly been sceptical about ‘marvels’ like miracle healings etc still happening during these modern times. I am referring to “gifts of the Spirit” here.

And all that ‘falling over’, I had seen on TV, relating to being ‘anointed’ with, or by, the Holy Spirit. It is also known as being “slain in the Spirit”. Were the people there at those services just hysterical or something? Or were they ‘just plain’ faking it?

Well … I HAD begun to have lingering thoughts about it all. Good old curiosity. I also HAD to admit to myself, at the time, that my old doubts about the movement were NOT actually based on any logic. Not evidence-based at all! And if this Spirit-filled ‘thing’ really did work for me, then my existing Christian faith, as well as belief in God’s existence itself, could go to a whole new level. So you know, my ‘auditor brain’ came to that position where I just wanted to know, one way or the other, what was the truth?

Bear in mind too, that a friend (who was also a fellow auditor), who did have credibility with me, encouraged me to check it out! How about beginning with an ‘anointing’? Get filled by the Spirit … be slain in the Spirit … get touched by him. My friend suggested a Pentecostal church or two that I might try for myself.

3.    ANALYSING THE HOLY SPIRIT’S TOUCH

The same enquiring mind, that many years before had drawn me in to analyse ‘mystical’ experiences (religious meditation) – discussed in the articles, “So, what is God?” and “Mysticism evaluated” – had finally led me to ACCEPT the opportunity of being ‘touched’, ‘anointed’, ‘slain’, ‘filled’ or ‘blessed’ with/ by the Holy Spirit when it arose.

I refer to the event as being “touched” by the Spirit, from this point onwards in this article, so as to keep it ‘simple’ for readers. Mind you, my attempt at being ‘touched’ did not go anywhere near as smoothly as I had wanted! But that WAS all my own fault …

3.1    First attempt

My wife and I bravely fronted a Pentecostal church in the ‘movement’, where we didn’t know anyone. I had been told by my ‘auditor friend’ that a pastor from interstate – who the Holy Spirit was using to (spiritually) touch dozens of people at a time in church services – would be in attendance there.

Now supposedly, the pastor had a God-given gift to ‘touch’ entire church fellowships in minutes. On the day, he gave a brief sermon (talk) to us and then began the spiritual touching process. With a hand raised in the air, he walked out into the congregation who were all standing before him. (Yes, it was standing room only).

The pastor wasn’t physically laying his hand on people, but none-the-less they were just collapsing in front of him as he moved forward. Like ‘ten pins’ going down really! And a number of those folk made quite a ‘thud’ as they landed on the wooden floor boards there in the church. Some laid there a short while and got back upright. Others seemed to be glued to the floor in some deep altered state of mind.

Yes, I found the atmosphere there to be very intense, absolutely nothing like I had imagined before entering the church.

Well, what did I do as the pastor approached me? Hmmm … I panicked and quickly moved myself out of the way. But I closely studied those folk on the floor. No, they certainly didn’t appear to be faking it. And yes, I could definitely see that the majority of them WERE deeply affected by ‘something’. But, I was not going to find out what it was on this occasion.

So … trial number one? Failed!

3.2    Second attempt

Shortly after attending that Pentecostal church, my own fellowship of faith (a traditional Protestant church) decided to join the ‘Charismatic’ movement. And I eventually had the opportunity to be touched again, but this time in familiar surroundings. Our church leader, who already was a Charismatic himself, called on the Holy Spirit to ‘come upon’ all of us who were present there.

What did it feel like? Well, to be honest, I got nothing I had hoped for again! A couple of people around me began to mutter in ‘tongues‘, as I guessed it, so I suspected ‘something special’ was underway. Yes I WAS ready to trial the experience this time around, but I was also quite anxious and having trouble opening myself up to the Spirit. So, no, it did not happen again.

My wife and I kept in close contact with that community of faith. And amazing stuff, thanks to the Holy Spirit, DID actually happen for us there. I am talking about us being on the receiving end of a number of ‘gifts of the Spirit’. I have written about one strong example later in this article (under subheading 5.2).

But while I was a member of that fellowship, I never did get to be ‘touched’ by the Spirit.

3.3    Third attempt

And the next time (i.e. my third) I had the opportunity to be ‘touched’, were things different? What do you think? Well … please keep reading … because I WAS getting closer to success!

It was years later and I was now a member of another Charismatic church fellowship. And I so wanted to be touched by the Spirit! To trial this thing. So, there I was up the front of the church within a small group who were all waiting to be touched by the Spirit. The rest of the fellowship, including my wife, were sitting back in the body of the church just watching us.

I WAS getting nervous though. “Oh no!” I moaned to myself.

A ‘gifted’ young man (who had been touched by the Spirit himself in the past) held his hand up to my forehead as I stood there. I only had seconds for it to work before he moved on to the next volunteer. BUT I was now far too nervous again, and just gave up! There was a team of people spread behind those of us being touched. Their job was to catch us IF we fell backwards under the power of the Spirit. So yes, I just faked it … falling back into their arms … not wanting to look like the ‘loser’ that I was!

3.4    Just when I’d given up!

Well, now we FINALLY get to the good part!

As I drove towards home after that service discussed above, and chatted with my wife, I became aware of a strange ‘sensation’ beginning within me. I did not need a second guess as to what was happening. Yes I quickly realised that the Holy Spirit knew exactly what I had previously wanted, and what I had continually missed out on due to my usual nervous behaviour. Now I was ‘pretty sure’ that he WAS offering it to me. I guessed it was the Spirit’s version of ‘tapping me on the shoulder’.

At that point, I KNEW it was a good idea to pull over to the side of the road!

And then … whoomp, I WAS being “touched” by him! Right there. ‘All knowing’ God in fact ‘knew’ exactly how much of an experience I had been chasing. Yeah, pretty well as big as I could get from him!

There WAS extraordinary power there, flooding my whole being. Thick and potent. I was over-soaked with it … almost obliterated by the experience. Descriptions keep coming to me as I write this, but I guess you get the message!

Yes, I had finally been spiritually touched by the Spirit. No thinking about it first, and then getting too nervous. So my earlier theory, that these experiences may be caused by hysteria, or the like, certainly had NO basis of fact. The ‘auditor in me‘ just HAD to accept the reality of all this. Absolutely!

4.    SPONTANEOUS TOUCHES

So, that ‘touch’ from the Spirit, experienced inside our motor vehicle, came to me as a ‘spontaneous event’. In the end, I didn’t have to do anything to bring it on. I didn’t prompt it. How else can I say it? Yes! The Spirit just knew I wanted it … so he graciously ‘offered’ it to me, and then ‘gave’ it to me after I accepted.

And, after thoroughly checking out the details with other members of the movement, I found that it is not rare at all for the Spirit to act in that way, to help out ‘nervous Nellies’ like me to get their first touch from him. And events like this seem all the more real, as explained already, because they ARE truly unexpected. This stuff tells us faithful Christians something else too. You see, it is pretty clear that God just plain loves each one of us … and is always ready to go the ‘extra mile’ for us. Yes, God’s deep love for us is a wonderful thing, and it is continually awaiting us in life.

But there is more. Much more! In relation to spontaneous ‘touches’.

4.1    They can ‘just happen’ to us Pentecostals/ Charismatics

I also eventually came to find that if you have deliberately opened yourself to the Spirit in the past, and been touched by him as a result, then he may ‘touch you’ again and again at later times. And I mean, without any further requests from you. What I am saying is: this sort of stuff just happens without ANY expectations … or even a thought about it … at all! I mean he doesn’t even ‘kind of’ tap you on the shoulder first. And I came to receive a number of those. Real bonuses in my search for Holy Spirit related events and their analysis.

Not surprisingly, the timing is always perfect for us. The Spirit can use other Christians, who also belong to the movement, as ‘channels’ to touch us when he gets that opportunity. It can happen, for example when a fellow Pentecostal or Charismatic is ministering to us, for some totally different need. I explain about my first related experience under the next sub-heading.

And later, I also found myself being used as a channel by the Spirit in that same way. I mean – as the ‘Charismatic’ I had become – I have been a party to giving other previously ‘touched’ Christians their own spontaneous experiences.

Also, WHEN the time is right for him, he CAN also just do it ‘DIRECTLY’ to us as well. That is even without any involvement from another Christian in the movement. I offer one such example of mine in the article, “Involvement in ministry” under Heading 3. Of course, I had received my own first example of that after pulling over to the side of the road (as previously explained under subheading 3.4 in this article).

4.2    My first totally unexpected experience

Years after that first experience of being touched by the Spirit, a clergyman within a traditional/ mainline Protestant church ‘anointed’ my forehead with oil. It was during a healing ceremony. I must explain here before going on what is meant by “anointing with oil”. It is performed by running a finger, just dipped in blessed oil, across the forehead of another person, in the form of a small cross.

I ‘closed my eyes’, after the anointing, as the clergyman (now one of my advisory team) held his hand up above my head, continuing his blessing. Then, unexpectedly, I began to get this feeling of warm oil landing on my head. I mean it felt so absolutely real to me that I wondered what WAS the clergyman doing? Why would he pour oil onto the top of my head like that?

Then the event ‘turned the corner’! I now began to experience, within me, a different powerfully thick sensation of now being ‘filled’ with warm oil. It felt like the oil was now flowing in through the top of my head. Yes, it was filling my entire being from within, to a state of ‘overflowing’. And I was again ‘highly affected’ as in my previous anointing by the Holy Spirit.

I CERTAINLY knew by then that what I was experiencing wasn’t physical at all. I mean my eyes were still closed, but I now understood this WAS a spiritual (or supernatural) thing.

What had happened?

Afterwards I asked myself, “What had happened?” Yes, the experience had a spiritual basis, but what WAS the logic behind it?

I guess what had ‘thrown me off’ was the fact that, firstly to my ‘auditor‘ thinking, this experience didn’t relate to any Bible verse I would have expected to be relevant. And I had only considered I would have experiences related to verses about early Christian Church events, within the Bible’s New Testament.

But I did come to find that the experiences actually ‘related’ to verses written hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth. Here are a couple of examples:

Take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head.
[Exodus 29:7]

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
[Psalm 23:5]

These quotes firstly relate to God’s empowering one of us to perform sacred duties, and then providing protection against any coming resistance threatening those duties.

And you know, a Charismatic clergyman, another one on my advisory team, told me later that he had in the past at least experienced the oil on the top of the head sensation also during an anointing process similar to my own. And that had been well before my own experience. You should have seen the sense of surprise on his face after hearing my story. He blurted out excitedly, “I’ve had that one! … I’ve had that one!”

‘The bottom line’

Getting back to the details though. I was not expecting any sensation at all from my healing service. You see, I did not even know at the time of anointing that the clergyman WAS a ‘gifted’ “Charismatic”. I mean from my knowledge, this stuff only happens when the Spirit uses a Pentecostal or Charismatic Christian as a ‘channel’ during the process. (And yes, I DID find out years later that he was a Charismatic ‘after all’.)

Anyway, it yet again demonstrated to me that the sensations of ‘Charismata’ are definitely NOT created by emotions or imagination. Obviously, that particular experience of mine had happened without the slightest expectation on my part. None! Yes, it was just a spontaneous spiritual event, courtesy of the Lord, channelled to me through a fellow Charismatic.

Again as that qualified, trained and experienced auditor, that I was, I had no option other than to accept just how REAL all of this had been! DEFINITELY a supernatural event as far as I was concerned. Absolutely! What more can I say?

Clearly it is not ‘up to us’

Bear in mind too, it is not up to us so-called Pentecostals/ Charismatics to make each other have these experiences. No indeed, that HAS to be the Holy Spirit himself.

The Spirit clearly likes to lovingly touch/ anoint/ slay/ bless/ fill us in that way to ‘reassure’ us of his powerful and holy presence when the chance arises. As I explain elsewhere he simply does it so as to build up his Church, and PROVE his love for each of us.

5.    “GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT”

And what of the ‘gifts of the Spirit’? You may wonder, like I once did, can they be even remotely ‘for real’? Well … read on please.

5.1    The most impressive ‘gift’

In my opinion only, the most impressive gift of the Spirit to be witnessed or experienced is ‘miracle healing’. I wrote earlier that I wouldn’t have believed it was even possible once. But I can now say that it is such an impressive gift, because it CAN be ‘indisputable’. That is you often just can’t argue with its results!

If you, or someone closely known to you, is genuinely healed of an obvious physical problem … right there and then, without any medical intervention … through a ‘miracle healing service’, then you HAVE to accept that something ‘physically’ impossible HAS happened!

5.2    In need of a miracle

So, having written all that, it should be no surprise for you to read that the most obvious and real example of a gift from the Spirit, that I have personally seen, was the miracle healing of my wife. She happened to be one of those folks chosen by the Holy Spirit, at a “healing service”, to prove that he IS real and WAS spiritually active at that service! And, as I have writtten elsewhere, I have no need to offer you the reader some ‘made-up’ story here. Rather, the  following details describe one of the most memorable experiences of my entire life!

Well before her spiritual healing, my wife had suffered from a stroke caused through an event in  hospital. As a result she had been left with semi paralysis on one side of her body, a droopy eyelid, and the loss of peripheral sight in that eye (tunnel vision) as a result. That stroke-affected right-side of her body always appeared to be quite pale in its extremities (hand and foot) as well. That indicated that her blood circulation had been affected there. Life on the whole was miserable for her, not that she complained.

Her doctor had told her, due to the long term of her stroke damage, not to expect any further improvement of the condition. And the side effects of the stroke had certainly damaged her career … during her late thirties.

5.3    Clear and positive result

And there we were, in a packed ‘Charismatic’ church, attending a Healing Service. A Christian healer rested their hand on my wife’s shoulder. I stood and watched as the white, weakened flesh of my wife’s right hand, which was visible to me, turned pink before my eyes. Yes, in those moments, I learnt that her brain cells HAD been rebuilt, restoring blood circulation, sight and strength to previously affected body parts.

It was all so real … so ‘rattling’! Such powerful evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence there; his existence CLEARLY demonstrated yet again for me.

And my wife had her old life back, able to fully return to work etc.

Obviously, this sort of stuff is SUPPOSED to be impossible! Brain cells, once destroyed, cannot ‘physically’ regenerate within a second of time under normal circumstances. My wife is still free from symptoms more than thirty years later, therefore I definitely know it was all very genuine and the effects were permanent. Many witnesses including friends, family and our community of faith at that time, remember the incident well.

And bear in mind that this sort of stuff is still happening in the movement.

5.4    Other gifts of the Spirit

And without doubt, to be on the receiving end of say “messages of knowledge” or “prophecies” can also be quite dramatic too. These words, delivered through a gifted speaker, will also ‘rattle your cage’ and ‘make no bones’ about it. Click the links above if you’d like to know more about them … and the results of my evaluation of relevant events.

The gifted person, delivering the words to you, will just plain old ‘speak them’. No questions will be directed by them to you beforehand. No indeed, they WON’T ‘chase hints’ on anything you might want to hear about. They just ‘speak the words’ that have landed in their minds, courtesy of the Holy Spirit.

The words will be so clearly about YOU and just for YOU that there can be no doubt about it when you are genuinely on the ‘receiving end’. And those gifts are far more commonly ‘applied’ by the Holy Spirit than his miracle healings. Remember the ‘old auditor’ is writing all this. Oh yes, it REALLY does happen!

6.    MY FINAL EVALUATION

So, let me offer you my overall evaluation of experiences, and events that I have witnessed, in the Pentecostal/ Charismatic movement.

6.1    Analysing the events and experiences

Firstly, let’s consider the sensation of being ‘touched’ by the Holy Spirit; an anointing, blessing, slaying or filling. However you name them, they can potentially be such strong sensations. With absolutely NO physical cause, as far as my analysis goes. And those other spontaneous experiences of mine! I didn’t even guess they could, or would, happen to me. Totally unexpected. ‘Out of the blue’. And some of them were just so powerful. Where else COULD they have come from?

And I have witnessed them happening, so often, to others over the years. And particularly, when I performed a lay ministry over a ten year period. Yes, I was regularly used as a ‘channel’ by the Spirit especially when I laid hands on other Charismatic Christians, who just happened to be patients in a hospital, during that time.

Secondly, what of the ‘gifts of the Holy Spirit’ that I either witnessed or experienced for myself? I have only described one example here: the healing miracle my wife experienced right before me in a church. It was so real, and so ‘life changing’ for her at the time.

6.2    Results of my overall evaluation

Before starting out on my ‘audit’ of events in the ‘movement’ I would NEVER have suspected my findings to have been so convincing for me. Such strong evidence, as far as I am concerned. You can access the article “Framework for evidence” for an explanation of the evidence-based practice I still use. That is, how I analysed individual events and experiences and then evaluated my overall findings.

After all those years of witnessing and experiencing these spiritual, or supernatural, events … I just came to find all of it so amazing. YES, it really did offer rock-solid evidence to me that GOD IS REAL! And as a result, that greatly assisted my journey of faith. It really encouraged me to continue on with the Church, study the Bible all the harder; to get me to know as much as I could about the Lord. And to seriously put that knowledge into action within my own life, thereby gaining ever more evidence of his ‘presence at work there‘.

That in turn helped me develop the “sound faith” I possess and the deep loving relationship I still hold with God today. I have no doubt that WAS his intention behind all the stuff that I AND so many others have experienced in the movement. I must also add, just as it was in the first century Christian Church (after Jesus’ death) as described in the Bible.

Look … I assure you that this Holy Spirit stuff IS still going on today. Yes indeed, I HAVE witnessed the odd event in recent years when attending the movement. And when helping to run a few ‘Alpha courses‘, for my church, I must add.

7.    CONCLUSION

I admit that I did not have a clue about this Holy Spirit stuff when I was an atheist. Well, I didn’t have much of a clue about it even as a church-going Christian, during my early years, eh? You know, I am pretty sure that an awful lot of practising Christians, in ‘this day and age’, would even still deny the possibility of it happening. I guess they have long held their ‘faith and belief‘, and they just don’t need to check it all out! I mean we CAN still come to believe in God’s presence through other, more gentle and slower, ways to prove beyond reasonable doubt that God is the ‘real deal’!  Again, please have a read of the article, “Framework for evidence“.

BUT if you really want ‘solid’ and ‘genuine’ evidence, ‘up front’, to convince yourself of God’s incredible loving presence/ existence … then please ‘join the movement‘ for a while at least.

Hmmm … I’m sure that I will surprise you here though with my final words! You see, despite all that I have actually written in this article, I HAVE to say there really is much more to Christianity than those ‘events’ occurring in the movement.

Please continue on to the next article, “Gifts of the Spirit in perspective”.